On the evening of May 14 1940 the Secretary of State for War, Anthony Eden, gave a radio broadcast announcing the formation of a local defence force and called for volunteers to join this new force.

In his radio announcement, Eden called on men between the ages of 17 and 65 in Britain, who were not already in military service but wished to defend their country against an expected airborne enemy invasion to register at their local police station. This new force would be the, Local Defence Volunteers or “LDV”

This announcement was met with a great deal of enthusiasm on the part of the population, with 250,000 volunteers signing up within the first seven days and by the end of July this number had risen to 1.5 million.

The Home Guard

The “LDV” later to be renamed “The Home Guard” at the suggestion of Winston Churchill; at its height number over 1,500,000 men who had volunteered readily to give up their free time, without pay in defence of this country during the years 1940 – 1944. These men and women were largest volunteer army in history!

WR28 Battalion Haworth Home Guard were formed in 2005.

As many of our founder members had relatives who had been members of West Riding Home Guard Battalions, we were delighted for the opportunity to remind people of the unselfish effort and commitment that our volunteer forces gave freely, to help protect families and homes from an imminent invasion force.

We staged our first HG display over the Haworth 1940s Weekend and encouraged by the enthusiasm and appreciation from members of the public and other living history groups, we decided that we should expand further our Home Guard equipment and displays. During the following summer we attended various 1940s events after further requests to stage our Home Guard displays.

“C” Company, WR28 Home Guard, has grown in numbers and equipment since 2005, enabling us to tailor our WW2 displays to the local events that we are asked to attend.